Despite Chandigarh adviser’s direction, pvt lab to seek prescription for Covid-19 test

Doctor’s prescription will be mandatory for testing, said a spokesperson of the lab.

Even though UT adviser Manoj Parida on Friday announced that a doctor’s prescription is no more mandatory for Covid-19 testing from a private lab in Chandigarh, SRL Diagnostics — the only lab authorised to conduct these tests here — on Saturday maintained that it will go by the “guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which essentially requires a prescription from a registered doctor”.

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The new ICMR guidelines call for a prescription of either a government or registered private doctor, said a spokesperson of the lab.

However, Parida said the private lab will have to follow directions issued by the central government, and the UT administration has just passed them on to it.

The ambiguity seems to have arisen due to a recent letter of the Union health and family welfare ministry to all states and union territories, a part of which states, “ICMR strongly recommends that the laboratories should be free to test any individual in accordance with its guidelines and state authorities must not restrict an individual from testing.” The letter initially states that private medical practitioners can also prescribe Covid-19 test in addition to government doctors.

“Even private labs can ascertain whether the individual coming for testing fulfils the ICMR guidelines and go for the test accordingly without prescription from any medical professional,” a senior UT health official said.